U.N. welcomes EU migrant plan, says test is whether lives saved

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations on Friday welcomed the European Union's plan to triple the size of its naval search mission in the Mediterranean, but said the key test was whether lives were saved and war refugees gained asylum. The EU's assurances meant the operation would have capacity, resources and scope comparable to Italy's Mare Nostrum rescue operation, which was ended six months ago, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said. "UNHCR believes they are an important first step towards collective European action," spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing. "If you are a refugee fleeing war, by definition you can't return to your home, you can't return to the place you fled from. And there has to be some safe, genuine alternative to getting on these boats," Edwards said. "At the moment there is no alternative for many people." Four days after up to 900 desperate people drowned trying to reach Europe from Libya, EU leaders agreed at an emergency summit on Thursday to restore funding for naval search missions to last year's level. About half the 220,000 people who crossed the Mediterranean last year fled war or persecution in Africa and the Middle East, making them eligible for refugee status, the UNHCR said. It urged Europe to provide access to refugee status through other legal channels, and to spell out what the new measures will mean for resettling and relocating migrants. "Ultimately the test will be whether we see reduction in lives lost, effective access to protection in Europe without having to cross the Mediterranean, and an effective Common European Asylum System, which truly lives up to its commitments of solidarity and responsibility-sharing," Edwards said. The International Organization for Migration said "the devil is in the details". "There has been a collective re-think - and we hugely welcome that - and a recognition that we cannot have people drowning in such numbers, especially such vulnerable people, be they refugees, be they unaccompanied minors, be they victims of trafficking, be they economic migrants," IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle told the briefing. "It's simply not on to have this happening, especially at such a scale and ... at the very beginning of the so-called smuggling season or sailing season." Destroying rubber boats or wooden vessels might help, but "at the end of the day how substantial a dent will that make in the smuggling, we don't know", Doyle said. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Heneghan)